Surfboard rack for my bicycle
Posted on October 6, 2007
Filed Under - leisure | Leave a Comment
I purchased this amazing contraption a few days ago. The noble bicycle surfboard rack! As I don’t drive or own a car (or have many friends), this is the only way I can get my surfboard to surf spots that are further than about 10 minutes walk away.
I bought it from Tunnel Vision and Andy fixed it up for me. Ingenious but somewhat rickety, is what I thought at first. But it does work, after a fashion. There’s been no wind this week, which does make life easier.
The surf rack has certainly garnered a lot of attention and everyone seems to think it’s a clever idea. The acid test was on the way back from my surf session today, when I managed to strap the thing up with cold, wet hands. But I couldn’t cycle back because a) I lost both contact lenses in my first wipeout, and b) I wasn’t wearing anything on my feet (spiky pedals, ouch!).
It’s all a glorious learning process…
Stumble it!
Forget Porthemmet - give me Porth!
Posted on October 5, 2007
Filed Under - leisure | Leave a Comment
Today was as warm and sunny as a day in July. I was sunbathing outside in a bikini - in October! This morning I went for a stroll along the cliffs with a friend who lives up the road from me. I took this picture of Watergate Bay in all its glory. In my opinion, it looks as glamorous as the now-famous Porthemmet, only fewer palm trees.
Surfing
There was good surf and plenty of surfers out in the water to enjoy it. I went surfing myself in the evening. I didn’t get down to Whipsiderry beach until almost 6pm. There were about twelve other surfers out in the water: mostly guys, a couple of kids and even another girl. It’s the first time I’ve seen another girl at my local breaks. There are female surfers around, in fact one of the best female longboarders in the country, Sophie Skinner, lives across the road from me.
Today was, I think, the biggest surf I’ve been in so far. When I first got to the line-up I was a little intimidated. But eventually I paddled for a wave and actually caught it first time! After that, I started to enjoy myself. On one occasion, however, I managed to catch a large wave without expecting it, and was already plummeting down the face before I even realised that I was on the wave and really ought to stand up. So that one was wasted and I felt like a complete idiot. I hope no-one saw me!
That said, I am having a lot of fun learning to surf. Riding a wave is the most incredible experience, something that everyone should try if they can. Age is no barrier! My next door neighbour took up surfing at the age of 60. The friend I was with today took up surfing in his 50s. It’s not about trying to be gung-ho and reclaim your youth. It’s a way of being really involved with nature, being right in there and part of the ocean.
Emotional roller-coaster
I feel quite happy and relaxed and the unusual thing is that this has been a consistent feeling over days and weeks. Before I left the rat race, my emotions were up and down like a yo-yo. I could go from happy to miserable in an instant, and often several times a day. Looking back, I was completely out of control inside. I would feel angry at myself for being that way but be unable to prevent it. It’s a corny simile but it really was like being on an emotional roller-coaster.
Now that it has stopped I can hardly believe I had the energy to cope with it all. I’m sure that if I had let that situation continue I would have cracked at some point. I am so pleased I made the decision to give up the career and move to Cornwall. It turned out to be a good decision but I honestly didn’t know at the time whether it was or not. That is one piece of advice that I would give to people who are thinking about doing a similar thing. Don’t waste time asking yourself whether you are doing the right thing or not, because you won’t know until you do it.
Stumble it!
Newquay - Padstow hike along south west coast path
Posted on October 3, 2007
Filed Under - leisure | Leave a Comment
A couple of friends are in town this week and today we hiked from Newquay to Padstow. Although it is only 13 miles by road, it is almost twice as far via the South West coastal path, as the way meanders in and out of the coves and beaches.
We decided to leave the path at Treyarnon Bay and take the road through St Merryn to Padstow. It was imperative that we get to our destination by 6.30pm so that we could get the last bus back to Newquay - and taking the road was the only way to get there in time. We ended up covering 18 miles, which is a decent day’s hiking.
The weather was pretty impressive for October - warm, not very windy, with occasional bursts of sunshine. There is less colour in the landscape now than there is at the height of summer, but you don’t get the crowds on the beaches this time of year. The last time I walked up this way the beaches were full of holidaymakers. Today they were empty apart from the odd dog walker or surfer. The beaches still look beautiful though, with their clean sand and clear water.
I hadn’t been into Padstow before. It’s actually nicer than I expected - perhaps because I thought it would be very twee and touristy. Okay, it is quite twee, but out of season it is pleasant and not too crowded. We only had time for a pint by the harbour before we had to leave again. No time to try Rick Stein’s fish and chip shop, unfortunately, so I will have to leave that for another occasion.
Stumble it!
Surfing session and a lucky sea bass
Posted on October 1, 2007
Filed Under - leisure | Leave a Comment
I was out surfing again this afternoon as the small, clean wave is still there. This time I went to surf at Lusty Glaze, which is the cove just south of my local Porth beach. Rather than heft my surfboard around the cliff path on foot, I decided to launch from Porth beach and paddle around the headland, thus getting in some paddling practice. There were only three of us in the line-up but there were some decent waves for around an hour and the water was still reasonably warm for the time of year. Had a nice chat with a fellow surfer who lives in nearby St Columb Minor, passing the time between decent sets.
Eventually tiredness, chill and hunger brought an end to the session and I paddled back round to Porth beach. As I exited the water there were two guys just starting to fish from the water’s edge. They were standing on the shore and casting out from there. I was slightly sceptical about this technique but I fell into conversation with them and while we were chatting one of the men caught an enormous bass. It was a magnificent specimen and the few people who were wandering on the beach came over to admire. I thought the guy might have taken him home for dinner but the angler eventually put him back into the water. I was very impressed, I never thought that you could stand on the beach and catch a fish that size, especially only five minutes after casting your line.
Seeing a beautiful fish like that caught by an angler on the beach reminds me about the issue of over-fishing and fishing methods that are harmful to other marine life. Commercial fishing is very important to the local economy but certain fish become very trendy and are in danger of over-fishing. The sea bass is a prime example. Rick Stein, who of course has a famous seafood restaurant up the coast in Padstow, recommends a wider range of fish to look out for in shops and restaurants. Or you can come down here to Newquay and catch your own!
Stumble it!
Surfing improvement
Posted on September 30, 2007
Filed Under - leisure | Leave a Comment
Had a great surf yesterday down at my local beach, Whipsiderry. The wave was small and clean, the water was warm and there were only about 15 other surfers out in the line-up, so loads of room for everyone! It was very beautiful out there in the water. As a surfer, you see aspects of the ocean that other people don’t see, like the back of a wave as it’s breaking. It’s like the back of a great animal and a very fine spray comes off the top of the wave as it breaks. Surfers probably have a name for this but I don’t know what it is.
This is Whipsiderry, the quietest beach in Newquay! It’s a beautiful beach and has a nice little break but most people just don’t know it’s there.
I haven’t had the opportunity to go surfing for a few weeks, so I was worried that I would have lost some of my ability. In fact, I had my best session yet! I am getting better at catching waves. This is due to improvement in my wave selection, timing and paddling skills.
It’s the paddling that’s the hardest at the moment. Non-surfers assume that standing up is the hardest thing about surfing but it really isn’t! I need a longer run-up than the guys in order to generate enough speed to catch the waves and I therefore commit to the wave while it’s still a long way out. A friend told me to take long, powerful strokes when paddling into a wave, rather than quick strokes. This is a classic beginner mistake, where the arms are going like windmills but you are still not moving fast enough. I found yesterday that the long strokes really helped.
What I really need to work on is the pop-up once I’m on the wave. I am taking a bit too long to stand up and it’s a clumsy process so I don’t quite get the turn in quick enough. I think the mistake I make is that I’m never sure whether I’m actually going to catch the wave so I’m not mentally planning ahead. Perhaps what I should do is assume that I am going to catch the wave, so that my brain can move ahead and prepare for a snappy pop-up, and perhaps even start turning the board (yikes!).
And just in case I’m taking it all a bit too seriously, I can visit the hilarious www.crapsurfer.com and revel in tales of surfing idiocy and the humiliation that is all too familiar for someone trying to get to grips with this amazing activity.
Anyway, as people keep saying to me, it’s all about water time now. I know what I should be doing, it’s a question of practising and doing it. Conditions are set to be good for the week ahead and as luck would have it, I have taken the week off work. What great timing! I look forward to getting some decent water time in.
Stumble it!
What dropping out means to me
Posted on September 25, 2007
Filed Under - leaving the rat race, Ideas & Philosophy | 1 Comment
I’ve just come across a very thoughtful essay about “dropping out” by a chap called Ran Prieur. It chimes with a lot of things I have been thinking about in recent days. I don’t always agree with or entirely understand everything in the essay but it is so good (and all too rare) to be able to read a piece on this topic that is insightful, honest and very well written. This passage gives an idea of where the author is coming from:
“The main thing I was doing during those years was de-institutionalizing myself, learning to navigate the hours of the day and the thoughts in my head with no teacher or boss telling me what to do. I had to learn to relax without getting lethargic, to never put off washing the dishes, to balance the needs of the present and the future, to have spontaneous fun but avoid addiction, to be intuitive, to notice other people, to make big and small decisions…
…A friend says, “This world makes it easy to toe the line, and easy to totally fuck up, and really hard to not do either one.” But this hard skill, not quitting your job or moving to the woods or reducing consumption or doing art all day, is the essence of dropping out. When people rush it, and try to take shortcuts, they slide into addiction or debt or depression or shattered utopian communities, and then go back to toeing the line.”
This has been nagging at me recently, the notion people have that dropping out is about dramatically packing it all in and flouncing off into the sunset. How often does that really work? I’ve used that rhetoric myself as a joke, but it was never part of my plan. I always thought it would be a long journey, in fact it is one I’ve already been on for some years.
Anyone who knows me, looking back, will probably see the signs. I started off in the venal world of film & television, caught the internet wave in the late nineties and rode that one for a while. I was there when companies started wipeing out too! I loved the creativity, brilliance and drive of the industry at that time, but all too soon it became more about the bottom line and the share price than about creating something amazing and shaping a new technological age.
In despair I turned to the public sector for opportunities to really make a difference to society but that too was a frustrating process. I found that I lacked some of the skills to bring people along with me, make compromises and bury my own ego to get a workable solution. Public organisations are full of bright, enthusiastic people who end up banging their heads against brick walls because they simply can’t get things done.
So I got to a point where I realised that, in my current configuration, I’m not equipped to achieve something I’m really proud of and I’m just spending my time fighting the system and wasting huge amounts of energy on actions that lead nowhere. I needed space, sky, room to develop, freedom to do my own thing and time to understand the world around me.
“To drop out is to become who you are. Do not feel guilty about using strengths and advantages that others do not have. That guilt is a holdover from the world of selfish competition, where your “success” means the failure or deprivation of someone else. In the dropout universe, your freedom feeds the freedom of others — it’s as if we’ve all been tied up, and the most agile and loosely tied people get out first, and then help the rest.”
It’s reassuring to read those words as I do have that guilt nagging away at me. I’m still not entirely convinced that this isn’t just a very selfish thing to do. The act of blogging tends to encourage this feeling, I find. It’s quite arrogant to put your personal life out there on the internet and expect people to be interested. So I want to do my best to give people something real to read. This is how I felt when I read this essay, that here was someone who is giving away for free something very valuable and personal and I was really happy to read it.
Stumble it!
Paying yourself first
Posted on September 25, 2007
Filed Under - projects, Personal Finance | 1 Comment
My current temping assignment is coming to an end and I have decided to have a week off before going back to work. I had been planning to go straight on to another assignment. But even though I could do with the money, getting caught up in yet another 9-to-5 maelstrom is so not the idea! I need to spend some quality time getting my own projects off the ground.
That was the idea behind choosing short-term temping. I wouldn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to have time off to pursue my own projects. My time is valuable and I’d rather spend it on my own business! It’s the philosophy of ‘pay yourself first’, beloved of life coaches and get-rich-quick gurus everywhere. Pay yourself first means putting aside money for savings before paying your bills rather than the other way round. And I think the same applies to your own time, which is of course very valuable. Give yourself first refusal on your own time instead of some employer who doesn’t really need you.
One of the things on my list is to expand this website. Although I started this blog on the Wordpress site, I have recently moved it to a hosting service so that I can grow and monetise the site. I am using Adept Hosting; I have started out with their basic package and I will see where it goes from there.
Stumble it!
Property development in Newquay
Posted on September 24, 2007
Filed Under Home & Property | Leave a Comment
The local paper this week has done a big spread on all the luxury, multi-million pound development that is going on in Newquay. Now that the season is over, construction work is starting in earnest. Two companies in particular, Acorn and Penpol have spent millions buying up sites in the town for development. Most of them are in the Pentire area near Fistral Beach, but there are a few here on the less fashionable side of town!
The local paper contains some artist’s impressions of the proposed new hotels and apartment-hotels and they are not really to my taste. They are sort of shiny and sleek but architecturally bland.
Some people see all the development as an opportunity and a chance for Newquay to go up-market and ape some of the millionaire villages elsewhere in the South West. But others resent the changes, feeling that second homes are driving up house prices locally but affordable housing is not being built. This sentiment is illustrated by a clever bit of graffiti on some hoardings in Pentire reading: “Welcome to Penpol’tire – Homes for Londoners”.
Ironically, this summer the planning inspector concluded that Restormel District Council’s planning strategy is “unsound”. It doesn’t adequately present a convincing way forward for development of the local area. Housing developments have been very slow to come on stream and there is a lack of employment opportunities locally.
I think Newquay would really benefit from greater diversification of the businesses and industries on offer. In theory, there’s no reason why Newquay couldn’t aim to introduce, say, a small IT/web industry. Newquay is a desirable place to live and could attract talent from elsewhere in the country prepared to contribtue to the local economy year-round rather than on sunny weekends.
But instead, the town aspires to build ever more luxury apartments. Property developers and other vested interests argue that Newquay needs to move with the times and holiday apartments are the future. But a simple house price crash would knock the second home market for six, and given the recent wobbles in the banking sector, the troubles of Northern Rock etc, it’s not that far-fetched. Furthermore, the surf trade, which is usually talked up as Newquay’s ticket to the big time, is very much weather dependent and we’ve had two poor years in a row.
So although the local propaganda is that Newquay is moving with the times, I reckon it’s more like plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
All of this doesn’t affect me too much, although I find it interesting to observe. I moved here knowing what was going on and the lifestyle I want is still here for the taking. It would however suit me even more if there were employment opportunities locally that matched my skills. Now that the nights are drawing in, I spend most of my daylight hours in Truro or commuting by bus. I miss Newquay and the sea!
Stumble it!
From temping hell to temping heaven
Posted on September 24, 2007
Filed Under - work | Leave a Comment
Well, not quite heaven, but good enough. I started a new temping job in Truro a couple of weeks ago and it couldn’t be more different from my last experience. Everyone is relaxed and friendly and best of all, they genuinely seem to think I am doing a good job - which is a huge relief! They are not a solicitors, which turns out to be a significant difference. The girl I am working with said that she has temped in the past and found that solicitors are by far the bitchiest places to work. This was unprompted - she doesn’t know that I have just temped with a solicitors’ firm.
It appears, therefore, that it’s not just me who has had a bad time. I had also assumed that part of the reason they didn’t like me was because I wasn’t local - but my colleague is local so perhaps that actually has little to do with it. I’d be interested to know what experiences anyone else has had of temping in Cornwall, particularly Truro. The job I am on right now is holiday cover, so limited to three weeks. It’s awkward being back in the nine-to-five all of a sudden but it’s a quick and easy income stream. I’ve started to learn to drive, so I could certainly do with the money.
It might seem weird to have dropped out of the rat race only to be back in an office two months later, but temping is a simple means to an end. I would not like to be a ‘career temp’ as I don’t derive a great deal of satisfaction from working somewhere for a few weeks and not having an emotional stake in the organisation. But as a way to earn a bit of short-term cash it is very easy. I get paid more than I would if I was working in a bar, restaurant or shop and the job’s got a time limit on it so I don’t get too bored or frustrated.
Stumble it!
Sea fishing off Newquay
Posted on September 24, 2007
Filed Under - leisure | Leave a Comment
Recently I went fishing for the first time - sea angling, to be precise. I booked on one of the regular trips out of Newquay harbour. Our boat was the Mystique with her skipper Wayne, a nice chap. I was the only woman on board out of a group of fourteen. Most of the guys were on trips with work mates. We motored about 4-5 miles up the coast and anchored opposite Mawgan Porth. On the way, we put out lines to catch some mackerel as bait. Mackerel seem to be quite easy to catch: all you need is a line with something shiny on it. I caught a couple of mackerel so I was quite pleased. However, the aim was to catch some bigger fish. As it turned out, I was the first to catch one, landing a nice pollock for my dinner! Skipper Wayne kindly filleted it for me, but not before I’d had the obligatory proud photo.
However, I didn’t manage to get another bite. Not everyone managed to catch a fish. There were a couple more pollocks, a couple of dogfish, wrasse etc. Someone even landed a cuttlefish. They are fascinating creatures - this one was changing colour as it sat on the deck. When Wayne threw it back in the water it let out a huge amount of ink and changed colour again before returning to the depths. Not nice to eat though!
When we set off to return to harbour I asked Wayne if I could steer the boat and he said yes. So I drove most of the way back, which was fun. When we got back to harbour, several seals popped up to see if we had any fish to give them. They are like dogs, they sit there looking at you with huge eyes until you feed them. They are a real fixture in Newquay and even have their own website.
I’m not sure if I’m a convert to fishing yet. It’s great when you catch a fish but it can be boring when you’re not getting a bite. I might try a bit of shore fishing next. People apparently fish off Porth headland so maybe I could get some of that action.
Stumble it!
« go back — keep looking »
-
Subscribe in a reader
About this site
Find out how to leave the rat race and get the life you want. Read my story and others, learn from our mistakes and be inspired by our successes!